Re: A Lullaby to Close Your Eyes
by n0xi0us.n1rvaNa
Summary: Same story redone in first person because of I got a lot of complaints about the script like format. A Kiba x OC Love story following a female wolf named Rei as she ventures with the pack to Paradise. I will be deleting the original once I'm done editting
1. Chapter 1

**C H A P T E R O N E**

Both of us had been running in a snow storm for days without food or rest. The storm was so thick that we couldn't see more than three feet in front of us. I almost lost Kiba numerous times because his fur blended in with the snow. There was no food for miles, and the clouds covered the moon thickly. Even if they weren't there, the moonlight couldn't have reached us through the blizzard. The two of us kept running because we knew that if we stopped, we would both freeze to death. After a while, I couldn't go on anymore; I collapsed. Kiba stopped running and skidded a little, kicking up snow as ran back towards me.

"Rei!" He called. I tried to get up, but I couldn't. I was simply too tired.

"C'mon, Rei! You have to get up, there's no way that we can rest out here!" He yelled. I layed there, motionless on the icy ground as harsh winds continued to blow snow against my fur. My blinking was slowing and fatigue overwhelmed me.

"I can't run anymore, Kiba... I'm so tired..." I said barely above a whisper. Kiba slipped under me and got up.

"Hold onto me then!" He said. I loosely gripped onto Kiba as he continued running. I could tell that he was just as tired as I was, and as far as I could see, there was no shelter in sight. I stayed silent as Kiba continued to run, forcing myself to stay awake.

**.!.!.!.**

I was lucky that I woke up. I didn't even realize that I had fallen asleep. My eyes shot open when Kiba stopped running abruptly and started growling. I got off of his back and saw that there were a bunch of humans in front of us that had just gotten out of a car. Four of them had guns and the other had a long white lab coat on. The two of us fought against them, still both as tired as ever. Even though I had gotten some sleep, I was still extremely tired. I could only imagine how tired Kiba must have been. After a while of fighting, Kiba had fallen to the ground. He'd been shot badly. I soon fell after him. It seemed as if I was dazed as I layed there on the ground. I'd been shot right in the stomach and there were a lot of wounds around my body from getting skimmed by bullets. I watched the humans as they pulled out a cage. They're voices seemed to echo as they spoke.

"There's only one cage that's big enough for one of them, sir. What should we do?" one asked, turning to another.

"Take the red one, then. Out of the two of them, it seems that one will be easier to handle. Put a muzzle on it and throw it in the cage." it answered.

"W-What about the other one, sir?" another asked. He was still a little shaken from fighting the two of us. I could tell by the stuttering of his voice.

"Leave it here, if there's no space then there's no space." the same one from before replied. I struggled a little as two of the humans tried to put a muzzle on me. Once I started to get a little troublesome, I was hit on the head with a butt of a gun

* * *

Six long and tiring months had passed. To me, it seemed like at least double that time. I'd been taken to a lab where I was experimented on. The humans were still debating on whether I was a wolf or not because according to them, the wolves had all been extinct for over 200 years. I was constantly being worked to my breaking point and injected with stimulants and depressants to see how my body would react to them. All the while I was there, all I did was dream of being with Kiba in Paradise. It was the only thing that kept me going. There wasn't a single doubt in my mind that Kiba would come for me even though it had been so long. I could always smell the scent of Lunar Flowers within the complex. The first time my blood was shed, I heard a scream, but it wasn't a human scream. From that night on, I kept on seeing someone in my dreams. It was the Flower Maiden, Cheza. She would sing to me to keep me at peace and help me relax as much as I could in the hell hole I was in. I planned to save her, even if I died in the process. I waited until all of the personel at the complex had either fallen asleep or gone home and broke out of your cage. I followed the scent of the flowers and found Cheza. Cheza picked her head up. Her dazzling rose colored eyes opened as I stepped into the room. I froze and was hypnotized when she looked at me and smiled. Those eyes.... They were stunning, indescribable. As I stared at the creature in ront of me, I was in complete awe of her. Immediately, I knew that I had to get her out of there. I went up to what looked like the control center of the glass sphere she was in and looked at it for a moment. Then I bit a hole into it and tore at the wires until the water drained. Once it was all gone, I broke the glass. I quickly slid under it to break Cheza's fall, ignoring the shards of glass piercing into my already weak body. At this point the alarms were sounding off. Sadly, I couldn't fight off all of the humans that were trying to prevent me from getting out. When they caught me again, Cheza was put into a more secure area and I was put into a more secure cage with a metal top and bottom. Though, instead of metal bars, electricity flowed. If I tried to get out, I was met with a nasty shock. Around my neck was a metal collar that sent even more electricity through my body if I tried to get out. The pain was so overwhelming that I immediately passed out if I was hit by its full force. I had now come to a point where I didn't struggle against the doctors and the experiments anymore. It wasn't worth it. There were a couple times when I thought about killing myself, but I couldn't die in a place like this. No, I couldn't die until I at least caught a glance at Paradise. I wouldn't let it happen.

**.!.!.!.KIBA'S P.O.V.!.!.!.**

I was still searching for Rei. It had been six months already, and she had probably given up hope in me, but I would never stop. Not until I found her. After my fight with the grey wolf and getting shot by the old man and chased down by his dog, I was in a cage. I could already sense that Rei was inside, where I was. I wanted to see her... To save her, but I couldn't do anything in the state I was in. I stayed inside of the cage, and rested for a little while. I woke up when I saw that there were another wolf with me. He was in the form of a human. He bent down and took a look at me.

"Man, you really screwed up. I mean, I've seen one of us get caught before, but never this badly." He said with a little chuckle. I opened one eye and looked up at the wolf.

"I can get out of here whenever I feel like it." I spat back at him.

"Uh-huh, so then why are you in there?" the wolf asked me.

"I just... needed a place to rest for a while. More importantly, I came here to save someone... That's all." I replied. I really didn't know why I was talking to him... I just was.

"I'm Hige, it's nice to meetcha" he said with a chuckle.

"So why are you in here, anyway?" I finally asked.

"No reason. It smelled like something interesting was going to happen and I just followed my nose, ya know? Besides, I got no where else to go." he replied.

"That's not your true form. Why do you hide yourself?"

"So I don't end up where you are. These people are terrified of us, you know? So if we look like them, they pretty much leave us alone."

"You're living a lie just so you could die a miserable death in this city?!" I yelled with a growl. To see a part of my species lowering themselves to that of a human.... It was just.... pathetic, pitiful.

"Gotta do what you can to survive right? Keep lookin' like that, you'll be back here in no time. It draws too much attention." Hige said, his voice and tone unchanged.

I got up and growled at Hige. "Have you given up your pride as a wolf?!" I yelled at him.

Hige looked surprised for a little while, but he started smiling. "You're a strange one, alright. But, having pride doesn't count for much if you're dead, ya know?" he said. There was a deep silence between the two of us. There was nothing I could say back to him because... He was right... The silence was broken by the sounding of the alarms. Hige just stood there as I bit the bars of the cage. They bent after a while, giving me just enough space to squeeze through.

**.!.!.!.MY P.O.V.!.!.!.**

I jumped up as the alarm sounded off loudly.

"What the hell? The last time I heard that annoying thing was when I went after Cheza.... Cheza!" I thought. I stood up and tried to get out of my electric cage, but the moment the tip of my muzzle got too close to the electic bars, my collar went off. I collapsed to the ground from the hard shock. Then I heard the door slam open and looked up. Even though they looked like humans, I saw two wolves, one light brown and one... pure white.

"Kiba!"

"Rei!" He yelled after me.

"Woah, another one! And it's a babe!" the wolf next to him said.

Kiba ran up to the electric cage in his true form and without hesitation, jumped through the electricity to me. I yelped as it shocked me. I rubbed my head on the nape of his neck when he was inside of the cage. He licked my cheek and then looked at the metal collar on my neck.

"Is it that collar that's hurting you?" he asked.

"Whenever I get too close to the bars it shocks me." I answered.

"Alright, if it shocks you now, bear with me, okay?" Kiba said. I nodded and lifted my head up, exposing my neck. Kiba tore at the collar. I shut my eyes tightly and clenched my teeth as it shocked the both of us. The pain tingled throughout out bodies as Kiba continued to tear at the collar. After a minute he got it off. We both stayed in the cage for a couple seconds, breathing hard and regaining our strength. Then we both jumped out of it. It hurt like a bitch, but we were out. Both of us stayed on the floor, a few feet from the cage. The other wolf walked up to us, still looking like a human. I noticed that he was staring at the bloody bandages around my arms. Kiba was staring at them too.

"You guys okay?" the other wolf asked.

"W-Who the hell are you?" I said a little confused.

"Hige." he said with a wide smile.

"Let's get going." Kiba said. I got up and looked at both Kiba and Hige weirdly as they "transformed" into "humans".

"Just think about lookin' like a human." Hige said. I gave him a weird look and then thought about looking like a human as he said to when I got up. Then like magic, I looked like one. As I walked through the complex, I noticed that Kiba was limping a little. I put my arm around his lower back and slung his arm around my shoulders. He was about to say something, but I interrupted him

"You're limping.... and besides, it's the least I could do for you..." I said. Kiba stayed silent. I saw Hige pout a little and smirk. When we exitted the building, no one looked at us. We completely blended it. Soon, after we were a couple feet away I heard a man run up to another one.

"Sir! That big white dog! It disappeared!" he said.

"What?! Where's the other one?!" the one he ran up to yelled.

"It's gone too!"

Kiba, Hige and I kept on walking as we heard the humans run back into the building. I was finally leaving that place. I was finally free, but I was also leaving Cheza behind.

"Don't worry, Cheza... I'll come back for you." I thought as I took one last look at the building. The three of you walked to the top of another building. Kiba sat down on its edge with Hige. I stood there staring at the full moon. I was completely stunned by it. It had been so long since I'd actually seen it again. I had forgotten its sheer beauty.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Hige asked.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever..." I answered. I wasn't really paying attention to what Hige said. I was still in complete awe of the moon.

"What was with the bloody bandages on your arms?" He asked. I rolled up my jacket sleeves that were hiding them and looked down at them and stared for a minute, but didn't answer his question. My eyes went back to the moon without me even noticing.

"...Eh... guess it was too personal..." after about half a minute of silence.

"Rei." Kiba called. I jumped a little and then looked at Kiba.

"Huh? Sorry, what did you say?" I asked.

"What? Have you never seen the moon before or somethin'?" Hige said.

"I haven't seen it for six months now... I-I guess I forgot how beautiful it was..." I said with an awkward smile.

"Wow...." slipped out of Hige's mouth. I took off my jacket and put it on the floor. Then I turned to Hige.

"Did you say something about these before?" I asked him.

"Y-Yeah." he replied with a little stutter.

I took the bandages off revealing countless wounds with stiches and five point injections marks that were in the shape of pentagons. Hige stepped back a little and gasped softly at the sight of them. Kiba growled softly.

"That's what they did to you in there?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Yeah... They were part of the experiments they did on me." I answered. I ripped the stiches out of my arms, wincing slightly and tossed them on the ground. Then I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before sitting down next to Kiba. I laid my head on his shoulder, letting my wounds heal up and enjoying the warmth of the moonlight as it danced on my skin, sending a tingling sensation throughout my body.

"I don't care about them anymore.... You're with me again... That's all that matters." I said. I felt him relax a little as he lightly kissed my head.

"What about you Kiba, so why'd you come to this crummy town anyway?" Hige asked.

"I smelled something. The scent of Lunar Flowers. It's here, in this city." Kiba answered. Kiba put his arm around my waist and guided me back as he laided down, staring up at the sky.

"Yeah, I know. My nose could tell when a dogs' takin' a dump ten kilometers away." Hige said.

"That must really suck." I said with a little laugh.

"Sure does." Hige replied with a little snicker.

"Hige."

"Yeah?" Hige asked, looking at Kiba.

"Why did you escape with us?" Kiba said.

"Uh, I don't know. I just felt like it, I guess. Besides, you two seem kinda interesting... So what's next? Where'ya headed?"

I looked at Kiba, seeing if he would say the same answer as he would before. This was the answer that would tell me whether he had changed over the time we were apart.

"To Paradise." Kiba answered.

I smiled and thought "He hasn't changed I see."

"Paradise, huh? That sounds like fun." Hige said with a small smirk.

* * *

Kiba, Hige and I were walking through the city. Hige stopped for a second when he saw a hot dog stand and snagged some for the three of us. We turned into an alley. As Hige sat down on the stairs, I leaned against the wall next to him. He handed me one hot dog and tossed Kiba another.

"See, what did I tell ya? Nobody notices us." He said. Kiba watched Hige as he took a bite out of the hot dog and sniffed it once. Then he took a bite out of it.

"This is awful." I said.

"That's because it's cooked. Humans don't like their food raw for some reason." I pointed out to him.

"It's also the best you can get around here. If I see a deer by, I'll be sure to catch it for ya." Hige said sarcastically. I heard a noise and looked past Kiba. Hige and Kiba looked in the same direction.

"The Nobles are at it again. Seems like they pick up one idiot after another." Hige said, ignoring the situation.

"Where do the troops take them once they're caught?" Kiba asked.

"Same place they took you two I guess." Hige replied.

"I would've seen at least one if that was true." I said with a slight sneer. Hige pouted a little. He looked like he was about to spit something back at me, but the second he opened his mouth, Kiba spoke up.

"That's perfect." He said.

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"I'll blend in and sneak inside." Kiba answered.

"What?! But we had to fool them just to get out of there. That hot dog fried your brain!" Hige boasted.

"I'm going back in." Kiba said with determination.

"Now, wait a second. What the hell happened to Paradise?!" Hige asked.

" I-I can't go back there, Kiba. I'll follow you anywhere but back to that place." I said with a look of anxiety of my face. I was completely terrified of even looking at that damned building. Kiba turned to me and took my hand.

"Please, Rei... I'm not going to let them get you this time. I promise you that..." He said. I looked away from him at the ground and removed my hand from his.

"F-Fine..." I said reluctantly. I still didn't want to go back there, but for Kiba, I would do anything.

"The scent is coming from somewhere inside that building and as far as we can tell, the only way in is to get captured. You know what's there, don't you? What they're hiding behind those walls?" Kiba said. Thoughts of Cheza were running through my mind. I could clearly picture her smiling at me and I smiled myself a little dreamily when I thought of the moment she opened her eyes and looked at me.

"The beacon that will lead us to Paradise." Kiba continued. I jumped a little, getting out of my dazed state when he spoke.

"Well forget it, you'll never get close to Cheza." Hige said.

"Cheza?" Kiba questioned.

"She's the flower maiden created from Lunar Flowers, that's what they say anyway." Hige answered.

"I saw her." I said with a little smile.

"What?! You saw her?!" yelled in surprise.

"Yeah..." I said. My smile faded at the thought of failure... My failure to save her...

"What did she-" Before Hige could ask any questions or even finish his sentence, I interrupted him.

"I don't want to talk about it." I said.

"C'mon, Rei. Just tell me!" Hige pryed.

"Leave her alone, Hige." Kiba said. Hige sighed.

"That makes sense. I heard that they tightened up security after somethin' like that happened. It's useless now. They got that place locked down. Even I couldn't get as far as the lab."

"So then why did you try to sneak in there?" Kiba asked.

"For a little excitement, I guess." Hige replied with a small smirk.

"Hige, don't you believe in Paradise, too?" Kiba questioned.

"I'm not goin'. No way." Hige said. Turned to me.

"I don't see how you could go back in there just like that after what they did to you." He said to me.

"Alright then, see ya around." Kiba said without changing his tone.

"Later, Hige." I said with a small smirk. Kiba grabbed my hand and then began walking towards the nobles with me.

"Hey, Kiba, Rei!" Hige yelled after us. He mumbled something, but I was a little too frantic about returning to the building to understand.

* * *

Kiba and I were locked inside of a large prison cell with a bunch of other people that had been captured. I was freaking out on the inside being inside of a cage again, but I didn't want Kiba to see. He had enough on his mind right now as it was. I didn't want to make him worry about me. I just sat there, leaning against a wall, hugging my knees and leaning my chin on them. Kiba sat down next to me and pulled me into him.

"It's okay...." He whispered in my ear. I sighed deeply, releasing my knees and leaning my head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of my head gently.

"Go to sleep, we may be in here for a while. I'll wake you up when something happens." He said. I nuzzled my face against his shoulder lightly and then closed my eyes. Even though I was in a cage again, at least Kiba was there with me this time.

**.!.!.!.ZZZZZZ.!.!.!.**

I woke up immediately when I heard the sqeaking of the cell door opening. I perked ny head up to see three men getting escorted in. Two I didn't know, but the other was Hige.

"Yo." He said, walking up to us.

"Hige?" I said in a surprised tone.

"What in the world are you doing in here?" Kiba asked.

"C'mon, we're friends now, aren't we?" Hige replied, sitting down on the other side of Kiba.

"That sounds funny comin' from you." I sneered. The three of us talked for a while, and then decided to go to sleep again. We woke up to the wonderful sound of the airship of a noble. I didn't even notice that all the lights were out.

"Damn nobles and their damn airships... why do they gotta be so freakin' noisy anyway...?" I muttered. I closed my eyes and began to fall back asleep, but got woken up by Kiba.

"Did you feel that?" He asked. I groaned grumpily in response.

"Feel what?" Hige asked.

"Something's gonna happen..." Kiba answered.

" I don't smell anything... except for the mildew." Hige replied after sniffing the air.

"You probably just heard the noble airship that passed by... Nothing big around here, happens a pretty often." I said.

"It's getting closer..." Kiba said.

"So, you wanna break out of here?" Hige asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Ugh... can't we just sleep a while longer?" I groaned, my eyes still closed.

"Sounds funny comin' from you." Hige said, mocklingly.

"Shut up, Hige...." I retorted. Kiba slid me off of him gently and then got up. I slowly got up and yawned, rubbing my eyes afterward. Kiba bent down at the bars and got ready to bend them apart, but then Hige tapped him. He stopped and looked at Hige as he pulled a key out of his hair.

"You can fit the whole world in there, can't you?" I said with an annoying laugh.

"Hey, because of my hair we're getting out of here without doin' any work!" Hige yelled.

"I feel like the two words I'll be saying the most to you are "shut" and "up", so shut up before I have to say it again!" I said with a sigh. I grabbed the key from Hige and began opening the door.

"Hey! How come you get to lead the way?!" Hige complained.

"Because I was in this damn place for six months and I know it best. I know this place backwards and forewards...or would you rather lead the way and just wander around aimlessly?" I replied. Hige pouted a little and then followed Kiba and me out once the door was open. The three of us felt a presence, it was toward the direction of the lab.

"Don't tell me you didn't feel that..." Kiba said. I nodded and led the way to the lab, running as fast as I could. Even though there weren't many people around, we still had to be cautious. It would be quite annoying if we got caught by a guard. I heard footsteps and stopped running. Then the three of us hid behind a ledge up against a wall. We heard a large crash that sounded like metal.

"What the hell is the matter wi-" I started whispering.

"Hurry up!" said in a whisper-yell. I looked up to see that Hige and Kiba had crawled into an air vent and were waiting for me. I jumped into it and crawled as fast as I could down it. I could feel the presence of a noble near that of Cheza's. I kicked the filter for the air vent out and jumped out of it, landing on the ground. Then I looked around to see if anyone was there; no one was in sight.

"This way." I said. Kiba and Hige continued to run towards the lab, following me, but stopped as we saw someone come out of the door that led to a bridge above us. There was a man with a dark colored trench coat and a white mask. I could see his right eye, but his left was covered by a dark eye patch. I knew that he was the noble that we all had sensed in the complex. I really could've cared less about him if he wasn't holding Cheza.

"Cheza!" I yelled. Kiba growled and the man looked down at the three of us.

"Wolves... you have my gratitude, for it was you who woke her." The noble said to us.

"What?" Hige asked.

"Who the hell are you?!" Kiba yelled. I continued to glare at the noble and growl.

"The flower maiden is mine." the noble replied.

"The maiden...? Is that... Cheza?" Hige said with a look of astonishment on his face.

"No she's not!" I yelled. I changed into my wolf form in less than a second and jumped on a ledge of a window on one of the walls once the noble grabbed Cheza by the neck and held her in the air. There was a light that beamed over them that was getting brighter. Cheza's eyes opened and tears streamed down them. I dropped to the floor, closing my eyes and covering my ears as she let out a scream. It was the same scream she let out the first time that my blood was shed in the complex. I got up as you Cheza's scream faded and I heard the ringing of the airship.

"We'll meet in Paradise... If we meet again, that is.." the noble said from within the airship.

"No!" I yelled. I jumped from the ledge to the spot where the noble was, but it was too late.

"Damn..." I changed back into my human form and looked at Kiba on the ground below me. There was no longer any trace of Cheza or the noble. I looked away from Kiba and stood there for a second, looking at the sky.

"I failed her... again...." I thought.


	2. Chapter 2

**. C H A P T E R // T W O .**

After the encounter with the noble, everyone in the complex started to go crazy and there was no way that the three of us would be able to escape by just strolling through. I started to panick a little bit, thinking out loud of ways to get out of the place.

"Over here." Kiba said. Hige and I ran over to Kiba who was waiting in front of an open sewage pipe. I jumped into it after him. I turned around and looked at Hige from the bottom of it.

"Hurry up, Hige!" I called to him.

Hige took in a deep breath and held his nose as he grabbed the sewer cap and went down the ladder a little. He placed the cap back as he went down. He gagged as he reached the bottom.

"Ugh! This is disgusting!" He yelled.

"Don't be such a baby..." I said.

"Let's go..." Kiba said as he began to walk. Hige and I followed Kiba in silence as he led the way through the pipes. After about fifteen minutes of walking, Hige started to complain. He was still holding his nose.

"Where the hell are we going? Places like this are rough on my delicate nose."

"You're soo annoying sometimes!- No, what am I saying? All the time!" I groaned.

"I got a hunch there's food down here." Kiba said randomly.

"Huh?" Hige and I both said.

"Just a hunch..." Kiba said. The three of us stopped as rats ran by. We grabbed them as quick as we could and downed them. Right now, we were sitting down on some broken slabs of cinder blocks and concrete.

"Looks like that guy stole the only clue we had, and the scent of lunar flowers is gone now, too." Hige said.

"He knew about Paradise, that's why he took her." Kiba said.

"Well, we'll just have to find another flower. She can't be the only one around, right?" Hige asked.

"Wrong... Cheza's the only flower maiden that's around. Don't you think with an airship like that, that noble would've gotten a different flower maiden if there was one available? I mean, I wouldn't want to go through the trouble of retrieving someone from a highly secured lab if another person just like that one was just out in the open, even if they were farther away." I corrected him.

"I guess you're right..." Hige said, a little disheartened.

"That man knew us. He saw what we were the minute he looked at us..." Kiba said.

"Why don't we blow this town? C'mon, let's look for Paradise!"

"He'll meet us there... that's what he said." Kiba said. Hige looked at him with a sweatdrop running down the side of his face. Obviously his try at changing the subject and distracting Kiba didn't work.

"He said a lot of crazy stuff. Listen, if you're thinking of going after him, you're out of your mind. He's a noble if I've ever seen one." Hige said.

"A noble?" Kiba asked.

"I keep forgetting you're new here, look those guys are bad news. And I, for one, am smart enough not to mess around with them." Hige said.

"They're like royalty. For some reason, their families came into power and they've got control over a certain city or town, somethin' like that... Didn't really hear much about them besides that, though that's more than you said." I added, looking at Hige.

"Hey! Trust me Kiba, just let it go. Forget about him." Hige said. I looked at Kiba. He was still staring at the water as it ran past him.

"But he took Cheza..." I said with a sigh. There was a silence dwelling among the three of us for a couple of minutes. After a while, Kiba got up.

"Let's get going." he said. I took Kiba's hand as he extended it to me and got up.

"C'mon, Porky." I said with a small smirk at Hige.

"Porky!?!"

"You were the one complaining about the smell around here in the first place, do you like it now?"

"No!"

"Then get your ass up!" I said. Hige groaned and then followed Kiba and me as we walked away. He insisted that he could find the way out, so we let him lead the way. After about twenty more minutes of walking in the tunnels, we decided to go back up on ground level. We stopped at the first sewer cap we spotted. The only problem with this one was that there was no ladder.

"What are we going to do about that?" I asked.

"Hey, how 'bout you guys stand on top of eachother and I'll climb up to open the sewer cap?" Hige suggested.

"Why do you get to open it?!" I yelled.

"Cuz I closed the last one." Hige said obnoxiously.

"That's a dumb excuse..."

"I guess it's the only way out." Kiba said.

"I should be the one climbing, I'm obviously lighter than _you._" I said at Hige.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means that you're on the heavy side, Porky!" I retorted.

"At least I'm not a twig!"

"Who're you callin' a twig, fat ass?!"

"I was callin' you a twig!"

"Nice comeback. You know what? Fine, you can climb if it'll make you shut up!"

"Yes!"

"Are you guys done yet?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah... If you fall, I'm not helping you up, you know." I said with a sigh.

"I won't fall." Hige said with a slight snort. Kiba sighed and kneeled down directly below the sewer cap. I put my legs around his shoulders and he held onto them.

"Don't break us, Porky." I said once I was steady on Kiba's shoulders.

"Stop callin' me that!" Hige yelled.

"Just shut up and do it, already!" I shouted back at him. Kiba groaned a little as Hige climbed on top of him. Then he climbed on top of me. He lifted up the sewer cap and looked around.

"Uh-oh. Must've taken a wrong turn...Huh? Hey! It's one of our own!" Hige said. I groaned.

"I don't care where we are or who the hell is there! Just get _off!" _As the word "off" came out of my mouth, I shoved Hige out of the sewer pipe. I grabbed onto the edges of the opening and pulled myself up.

"Hold onto my legs." I said.

"I don't wanna touch you!" Hige exclaimed.

"Just do it!" I yelled at him. Hige groaned and held onto my legs as I reached back down into the sewer.

"Grab onto me." I said to Kiba. Kiba grabbed onto my wrists as I extended my hands to him. I looked back at the opening.

"Pull me up!" I said.

"Yeah, yeah." Hige mumbled as he gave my legs a forceful tug and pulled both Kiba and me up quickly. Kiba ended up on top of me, while I was on the floor. I looked at Hige.

"Stupid idiot." I said.

"That's the last time I trust your nose." Kiba added. Kiba smirked at me for a second and was about to kiss me when Hige interrupted.

"Hello! We've got company here! And I don't mean just me!" Hige said. Kiba and I looked to our right and saw another wolf by a knocked down trash can. He was tan colored and had bangles around his right arm. He was looking at us in shock with his mouth slightly open.

"You guys...? No way! Y-you're..." He said, trailing off. Kiba got off of me and looked at the human in the alleyway staring at the Tan Wolf. The wolf looked back at the human and stared at her.

"Lira." the tan wolf said. The girl tensed up as she heard the wolf call her name. She was starting to shake and looked as if she had seen a ghost. The Wolf turned towards her.

"Don't be scared. I won't do anything. I just... wanted to see you again. I'm so sorry... about your bird." the wolf said to her.

"D-Daddy... Daddy? Daddy! DADDY! COME QUICK IT'S THE WOLF! THE WOLF IS HERE!" the girl yelled.

"This is exactly why I hate humans!" I said.

"We've gotta get out of here!" Hige yelled. I stayed back while Hige and Kiba ran and looked at the tan wolf, still staring at the girl.

"What are you waiting for?! Let's go!" I yelled at him. The wolf shook his head and then followed me as I ran behind Kiba and Hige. He followed the three of us into an alleyway, but stopped as we went into one of the pipes that were in the walls.

"Grr... Where the hell is he?!" I said.

"Probably still trying to reason with the human." Kiba said.

"C'mon!" Hige said as stuck his head of the pipe.

**

* * *

**

The pipe that we went into led back into the sewage system, and once again, Hige started to complain.

"I told you before that I hate smelly places!" he complained.

"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up!" I yelled. His complaining was really starting to get on my nerves.

"Who said I was talkin' to ya!?" Hige spat back at me.

"Don't you two ever stop arguing?" Kiba groaned.

"Hmph!" I said, crossing my arms. Hige groaned and then looked at the Tan Wolf behind the three of us.

"Hey, runt, what's eatin' you?" He asked him.

"I'm not a runt! My names' Toboe!" the wolf said.

"That's cool. Well I'm Hige, and this heres' Kiba. That over there" Hige pointed at me.

"is bit-" Before he could finish what he was saying, I interrupted him.

"If you call me that, I'll rip your throat in a second...." I said.

"That's Rei...." Hige said in a monotone voice.

"Where are we headed, anyway?" Toboe asked.

"Where do you think? To the exit, of course." Hige said.

"The exit?" Toboe questioned.

"We're leaving town." I answered.

"You're leaving town? But, where else are you gonna go?"

"To Paradise." Kiba said.

"Paradise...?" Toboe said, a little confused. Toboe stopped walking. Hige and I looked back at him.

"Hey, guys... Do you know Tsume?" He asked.

"Tsume?" I asked.

"Nah, never heard of him." Hige answered.

"Is he the one with the scar on his chest?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah! That's Tsume, alright!" Toboe exclaimed.

"Okay, what about him?" Kiba said.

"He's one of us, so I thought he might wanna leave too." Toboe said.

"Well, I don't know him. Where is he, hidin' out some place?" Hige asked. I looked ahead at the ground and saw some blood at the base of a ladder.

"I don't know. We... We got split up." Kiba said.

"Hey, Kiba." I said, getting Kiba's attention.

"What is it?" He asked. Kiba looked to the direction where I was looking and walked up to the blood on the floor. I followed him and stood by his side as he bent down to examine it.

"Sorry, pal, but it's too late to go back for him now. So what, is he like a friend of yours?" Hige asked.

"No he's not! He isn't my friend..." Toboe said.

"So? Ditch him already. Shake a leg, runt." Hige said.

"That's Toboe!" Toboe corrected him. I eyed Toboe as Hige and him walked past Kiba and me.

"Well at least I know that I'm not the only one who sees Hige as annoying..." I said. Kiba didn't answer.

"Is that his blood?" I asked.

"I don't know. It's definately wolf's blood though, and the scent is kinda familiar." Kiba answered.

"Hey Porky!" I called. Hige turned around.

"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?!" he yelled.

"Didn't Toboe tell you to stop calling him a runt!?" I spat back. Hige groaned as Toboe laughed.

"That's karma for ya." Toboe said with a small chuckle.

"I think we found something so get back over here!" I said. I climbed up the ladder after Kiba and was shortly followed by Toboe and Hige. The four of us continued to follow the blood and its scent until it led us to a crumbling building.

"That place sure looks nice... I hope that's not where he's staying... Hey Toboe, this place look familiar to you?" I asked Toboe.

"Yeah, that's where Tsume lives." Toboe answered.

"Great..." I said.

"Well, let's get him." Kiba said. I sighed and ignored Hige's complaining as I walked into the building. After a couple minutes of walking, we got to a closed door that was on the top level. Kiba went through it first, followed by me, Hige and Toboe. Kiba and I stepped aside a little. We stared at the wolf sitting down on the window sill. He was in his human form, with silver hair and holding his bleeding arm. From this distance, I could definately tell that the blood from the sewer was his.

"What a crap heap, why the hell did you bring us here?" Hige asked.

I sighed. "Didn't you hear me at all outside?"

"And just why would I listen to you?!" Hige said.

"Tsume?" Toboe said.

"You..." the grey wolf said.

"Wha... Hey... is this him?" Hige asked. I looked at Kiba and saw that he was eyeing Tsume. I could tell that there had been a past quarrel between them.

"I could smell the blood from your wound." Kiba said.

"What?" Tsume asked.

"I smelt it all the way here from town." Kiba continued.

"And you're gonna nurse me back to health? Well I don't need your help." Tsume snorted.

"Tsume, look I... We're leaving the city. I really think you should come with us." Toboe suggested.

"And just were is this merry band of yours going?" Tsume asked.

"To Paradise." Kiba said.

"You're kinding me. You're going with them because you believe in that crap?" Tsume asked.

"I don't know, but... if we stay here we'll have to spend the rest of our lives in hiding or worse. We just can't live with the humans anymore and survive..." Toboe stated.

"We could never live with them in the first place..." I added. I looked at Hige as he pressed himself against the wall besides the window and looked outside.

"Look, I hate to interrupt, but a nasty stink is headed this way." He said. At that moment, the three of us felt the presence of a lot of humans.

"We're surrounded." Tsume said.

"Let me ask you, why did you guys come to this city? It was because of the flower scent, wasn't it? Well it's gone now. There's no reason to stay." Kiba said.

"The flower has nothing to do with it. I'm here because I belong." Tsume said, stubbornly.

"I could see that; this city is a dump." Kiba said. Tsume tensed up and walked towards him.

"I still have a score to settle with you." Tsume said. I stepped in between Kiba and Tsume.

"No wolf belongs out of a pack, not even you. So if you think that you belong in this city, you're wrong, but if you touch a hair on his head, you'll be more than just alone. You'll be dead." I said with a growl.

"C'mon! We don't have time for this!" Hige yelled. Tsume glanced at me for a second, and then looked up at Kiba.

"The last time we met, you said something about how your pride wouldn't allow you to pass as a human. Well, you look pretty human now, where'd your pride go?" Tsume asked. I growled a little at Tsume, but he ignored me. Kiba put a hand on my left hip and I stopped.

"No where. Nothing has changed." Kiba answered.

"Do you have the slightest idea of what leaving the city would mean?" Tsume asked.

"Yeah."

"You'll just die."

"Possibly. Everyone's gonna die. It's a natural part of life, but if life has no purpose, you're dead already." Kiba said. That line burned in Tsume's mind. He said nothing back to Kiba. The only thing that broke the silence between them was the sound of gun shots and the bright flash that came from outside of the building.

"Can we go now?!" Hige yelled.

"This way!" Tsume said. The five of us ran across pipes outside of the window towards a bridge. Toboe slipped off, but grabbed onto a strip of metal on the bottom of the pipe. Tsume stopped and ran over to him as he struggled to get up. He gripped onto Toboes' shoulder with his fangs and pulled him up. Once I saw that Toboe was safe, I continued to run with Hige and Kiba. Toboe quickly caught up to the three of us as we ran, avoiding the many bullets that shot past us. Once we reached the top of another building, Kiba stopped and looked back.

"What the hell are you stopping for?!" Hige asked. Kiba didn't answer, instead he kept staring at the opening on the other building that the four of us came from.

"Just wait..." I said. A couple seconds later, Tsume came out of it.

"Tsume!" Toboe yelled. Tsume stopped and stared at Kiba for a little as the shots ceased to fire for a little. Once they started, all of us continued to run again. From the top of the building, I jumped down into a snowstorm to another broken one. Toboe and Tsume were the last ones who was standing on the higher building. Looking down from above, Toboe looked scared.

"Jump already!" Hige yelled at him.

"I was getting ready to, alright!" Toboe said back. I hit Hige on the arm. He clutched his arm and looked at me.

"What the hell was that for?!" He asked.

"Will you relax? He's just a kid!" I said. I looked back up at Toboe to see Tsume behind him.

"Move it." Tsume said as he kicked Toboe off the edge of the building. He screamed a little in the free fall before he landed in front of the three of us. Tsume stayed behind for a little bit, staring at the sky. He ignored the gun shot that was fired near him.

"Tsume, what are you waiting for?! C'mon, jump!!" Toboe said. Another shot was fired.

"Are you scared?" I yelled at him.

"Yeah, you wish..." Tsume retorted. He jumped off and landed beside me.

"That jump was nothing." He said when he landed. As the city was far in the distance, Tsume stopped and looked back at it.

_" Screw this stupid journey. Paradise can kiss my ass. I'm just... fed up with this stinking town. It was time to move on anyway... "_


	3. Chapter 3

**. C H A P T E R // T H R E E .**

It wouldn't stop snowing as the five of us continued to run. The wind had died down, which was good, but the snow continued to fall. We'd been running for a while now. When we found some shelter in a cave, we decided to stop for the night. The city was far behind us anyway. Everyone but Kiba and me had fallen asleep. Kiba was sitting down at the mouth of the cave, staring out at the snow as it fell down on the ground peacefully. I sat down behind him and wrapped my arms around him, resting my head on his shoulder. Kiba put his hands on my arms and leaned his back against me. I kissed him on the cheek.

"You know this is the first time we've really been alone together, just the two of us." I said as I looked out at the snow.

"I guess if you ignore the three in the back." Kiba said.

"They've been asleep for a while now.... why are you still up?" I asked.

"I'm restless. You know how I am when I lose the scent of the flower." He answered.

I chuckled. "Yeah, I know.... just like then..." There was a deep silence between us. Kiba's hands moved to mine and he clutched them tightly as he hung his head.

"I-I'm sorry, Rei... I-I should've came sooner...." He said.

"Hey, don't get all sad on me. It's alright, it doesn't matter when you came. The only thing that matters is that you did come. I never lost hope in you Kiba. That was one of the only things that kept me alive when I was there. So even when you were physically with me, you were still there." I said, calmingly to him.

"But, y-you wouldn't have had to go through so much pain if it wasn't for me..." He said.

"No, it wasn't your fault, Kiba. Don't think that...." I said.

Kiba got off of me and turned around. "Can you really forgive me after all that's happened to you?" He asked. I put my right hand on Kiba's cheek and smiled.

"There's nothing to forgive. I never blamed you, Kiba. You were the only one that I stayed alive for." I answered him. I moved in closer to Kiba and pressed my lips against his, closing my eyes. Kiba wrapped his hands around my waist and I wrapped mine around his neck. Then he licked my bottom lip. I opened my mouth just enough for him to slide his tongue in. Kiba pulled me in closer and then gently laid me down so he was ontop of me. I continued to make out with him and played with his hair. After a couple more minutes we parted from eachother. I smiled at him.

"You know, that was probably one of the things that I missed most about you when you were gone." Kiba said.

"What are you talking about, you nasty...?" I said with a light chuckle as I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't mean this... I meant your smile...." Kiba said.

I reached up and carressed Kiba's cheek gently. Then I pulled him into me. He rested his head on my chest.

"I missed you so much..." I said as I closed my eyes and smiled. Part of me was thinking that this was all a dream and that I would wake up in a cage again. I still couldn't believe that I was actually with him again.

"I missed you too. I never stopped thinking about you; Not for a second.... I love you, Rei." Kiba said to me.

"I love you, too." I said. I started playing with Kiba's hair and after a few minutes, he fell asleep. I fell asleep shortly after him.

**.!.!.!.**

The snow was still falling when we left the cave, but it stopped when we reached a certain point. As the days passed by and you kept on running, the weather continued to get hotter and hotter. Soon, we were back up in the mountains, stuck in another snowstorm. And once again, we were stuck in a cave, waiting for the storm to pass.

"Oh, man. I sure am hungry." Toboe said.

"Yeah, you could say that again." Hige whined.

"How long has it been since we ate anything?" Toboe asked.

"I don't know. I guess it's been about three days or so." Hige answered.

"We've gone that long without eating?" Toboe complained.

"Yup. Not a bite..." Hige stated plainly.

"Complaining about it isn't going to make it any better, you know..." I said.

"I know, but I'm so hungry... How much longer until we get any food?" Toboe said as his stomach growled.

"I have no idea, another three days, I guess." Hige said.

"Will you two quit your whining already? It's only been three stupid days." Tsume growled as he started to get pissed off by them. He really wasn't a good mix with them.

"Yeah, but if we hadn't left the city, we would've had something to eat right now." Toboe said.

"We can last a lot longer if we bask in the moonlight. I traveled a full month once when I did that." Kiba said.

"Did you say a month?!" Hige said, shocked.

"It's not that hard, you know." I said.

"Maybe for you!" Hige said with the same shocked look still on his face.

"It should stop snowing anytime now. Once it does and night draws closer, the moon will be out." Kiba said.

"That's if the sky clears up. Otherwise, the clouds will cover it up again...." I added.

"Well if worse comes to worst, we can always eat each other." Tsume said with a small grin.

"Huh?" Toboe said a little confused.

"We can start with the runt since he's gotten so weak or Little Porky over there. And of course, there's always Lassie around somewhere." Tsume said.

"If you think that I'd let you eat me, you're dead wrong..." I spat at him.

"Wait a second! Why isn't Kiba on the menu?!" Toboe asked.

"Because the guy is full of crap, that's why." Tsume answered. Kiba and Tsume stared each other down. I sighed and sat down next to Hige. We knew that both of them were too hungry and tired to fight right now. That was just Tsume being Tsume.

"C'mon, cut it out! You don't mean it! You're just sayin' stuff like that cuz you're hungry." Toboe said. Hige sniffed the air as a breeze blew by and his face lit up. He bolted up and ran out into the snow. The four of us ran after him and for once Higes' nose was right. It led us straight to a fawn.... a dead, decaying fawn with flies already around it.

"I wonder where it came from. I mean, it's all by itself out here." Toboe said.

"You gonna eat that?" Tsume asked a little disgusted.

"Yeah! Are you gonna?" Hige asked. He immediately started eating the fawn, followed by me, Toboe and Kiba. Tsume stayed behind.

"You know what? This tastes pretty good. It's only a little bit tougher than a hamburger. Hey! C'mon, Tsume, have some! We still have a long way we have to go." Toboe said.

"Go? Go where, exactly? To that Paradise place? Off in the direction you smell the flower..." Tsume asked.

"Tsume..." Toboe said, a little disheartened. He looked at Kiba. "C'mon, Kiba, tell us. What's Paradise really like?" He asked,

"It's an amazing place. The flowers are always in bloom and there's food everywhere! Oh, and there's beautiful babes all over the place..." Hige fantasized.

"You mean it?!" Toboe said, getting excited.

"Here we go again..." I said with a sigh.

"Of course there are! I hope so, anyway..." Hige said, getting sad as he trailed off his sentence. Toboe pouted.

"You don't know..." He said, disheartened again.

"Paradise is just a totally unfounded fairytale and if it isn't, then it's probably just some idiots' dream." Tsume said.

"So then why the hell'd you come with us?" Hige asked.

"Someone's a hypocrite..." I said as I whiped some blood off of the corner of my mouth.

"We'll never know unless we look for it." Toboe said.

"How far are you gonna let this guy string you along? Especially you, Rei. I don't even understand why you're here right now. After all that you've been through. After all that time that you waited for him, you're still following him around. How far are you going to follow this guy in pursuit of a place that doesn't even exist to begin with?" Tsume said. I stood up and walked up to Tsume.

"You don't know anything about me... Stop pretending like you know my entire life and what I think just because you've been with me for a while. You know nothing about me, Tsume. No wonder you were alone in that damn city. You're a coward who only can be comfortable when the ones who are around you aren't as strong as you are!" I spat at him.

"Hmph. I may not know much about you, but what I really want to know is why you still insist on protecting him." Tsume said. As the word "him" came out of his mouth, he motioned his head at Kiba.

"If you want to know about me so much, why don't you fight me? Then you'll get to see how I kill things." I growled.

"C'mon guys! Stop fighting, we already have food! There's nothing else to fight about!" Toboe yelled.

"That's it, I can't put up with you losers anymore..." Tsume said. He turned around and began to walk away.

"Go back to that damn city then, Tsume!" I yelled as his back was turned.

"Tsume!" Toboe yelled after him.

"Let him go, nobody really cares anyway. It's not like he'll actually be any use to us..." I said.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going all by yourself?!" Hige yelled.

"To look for hell, I guess." Tsume answered, sarcastically.

"Suit yourself." Kiba said, shrugging the situation off. Tsume stopped for a second and turned around to face us again.

"Kiba..." Toboe said with a worried look on his face.

"But remember, that set of rules you have doesn't apply way out here." Kiba continued.

"It really pisses me off when a smug kid like you has that know-it-all look on his face and he's actually clueless." Tsume said. There was a dead silence between everyone. Kiba and I continued to stare Tsume down and Toboe started to get a little nervous. After a couple seconds, Tsume turned his back again and started walking away.

"Tsume! C'mon don't leave now, we finally made some friends!" Toboe yelled after Tsume.

"Play with your buddies all you want, I'm outta here!" Tsume yelled back.

"If you ask me, the only one who's acting like a kid around here is him." Hige commented.

"Don't say that. I like Tsume, he's really nice." Toboe said.

"Well then, I want the drug that you're smoking. It seems to be making you pret-ty stupid..." I said.

"Just wait here, I'm gonna go get him!" Toboe said before running after Tsume. I sighed and laid on the ground with my hands behind my head.

"Guess it's just the three of us like before." I said.

"Yup..." Hige answered.

**.!.!.!.TSUME'S P.O.V.!.!.!.**

I heard Toboe running after me as I continued to walk away.

"Hey! Wait for me, Tsume!" He yelled. I didn't stop walking. I could care less about Toboe. He caught up to me and walked by my side.

"What are you so mad about, huh? C'mon, come back and join us, okay?" Toboe said.

"Shut the hell up!" I spat back at him. The little runt annoyed the hell out of me. I didn't understand why he liked me so much.

"You know it's dangerous to move around alone." He said.

"It doesn't matter, does it? We're always alone." I said.

"But wait, I-" I knocked Toboe down once I felt his hand gently touch my shoulder.

"Stop bothering me!" I yelled. I looked at him on the ground, a little guilty. I didn't mean to knock him over, just to get his hand off of me. After a second of realizing the expression that was on my face, I hardened it.

"Don't follow me." I said. I ran away from Toboe as he remained sitting on the ground. After I was a couple miles away from him, I began walking again. The sky had turned bright orange and the sun was just starting to set. I came across what looked like an abandoned city or town of some sort and sat down in one of the broken buildings.

_"Who cares about them anyway? They're just gonna die out here looking for that dumb Paradise... not like it's even there anyway. Rei... I really wonder why she still follows Kiba. There's nothing special about him. Why is she so in love with him...? Wait a second, why do I even care about her...?" _I thought. My thoughts were interrupted by Toboes' voice. I could hear him calling for you. I looked out of a window and saw him standing on some broken rubble. I started to walk away from the window, but stopped when I saw something flash. I narrowed my eyes and continued to stare at it. When it came out a little, I saw the barrel of a gun.

_"Shit, it's aiming right for the runt!" I_ jumped out of the window and landed a few feet away from the rubble that Toboe was standing on. I ran as fast as I could up it and pushed him out of the way just in time. Instead of hitting Toboe, the bullets hit me in my leg. I landed on the ground on my stomach. Toboe ran up to me to help.

"Tsume!" He called for me.

"Run, you idiot!" I yelled. I got up as fast as I could and ran behind Toboe, even though it hurt like hell. By the time we lost the machine, the sun had already set. Right now, Toboe and I were walking on what looked like a broken down bridge. At this point, I'd already lost a lot of blood.

"Are you okay?" Toboe asked. I knocked Toboe back a little, not wanting him near me at the moment. I hated when people saw you in this state. I hated looking weak.

"Stay away!" I yelled. I stopped walking when I got to the end of the bridge... that was the end of the road on the bridge. I could see the rest of it broken down on the bottom. I heard something that sounded like the screeching of tires and looked behind. The machine was back again and it was targeting the two of us. I looked at Toboe.

"We're gonna have to jump." I said. Toboe looked nervous when he heard me say that. The machine started to fire at us. I took his hand to make sure he wouldn't stay behind to "get ready" and jumped off of the bridge. The landing made pain pulse through my leg. I clenched my teeth and grunted, holding in a scream as I ran behind a piece of rubble with Toboe. The machine started to fire again from the top of the bridge. Toboe and me took a good look at the thing. It looked like an early military machine.

"What the heck is that thing?" Toboe asked.

"How should I know?" I answered. The machine backed up when it didn't "see" us anymore. I grabbed my leg and cringed in pain.

"Tsume!" Toboe looked at the wound in my leg with worry on his face. I took a breath in and almost gagged; All around us it smelled like death and decay.

"Damn it... the stench of this place is starting to make me sick." I said. I slowly got up when I was sure the thing was gone and started to walk away, limping. Toboe followed me silently.

**.!.!.!.TOBOE'S P.O.V.!.!.!.**

After a while, the machine had spotted Tsume and me again and it was after me. Tsume continued to limp as he ran, but he wouldn't let me help him. We came across a narrow bridge. As I ran across it, the machine anchored itself on the ground. Tsume turned around and faced it. The machine shot out a missle at the end of the bridge before we got there, causing it to collapse. I screamed as I fell into the black void under it.

**.!.!.!.REI'S P.O.V.!.!.!.**

Kiba, Hige and I had stayed a couple miles near the place where we found the fawn for when Toboe and Tsume came back. It had been a while since they left. Right now, the three of us were lying down, staring at the night sky. Kiba had his hands behind his head and I was lying down on his chest. Hige was on the other side of Kiba.

"You know, I was thinking. We should go ahead and ditch that guy. I mean, it's not like he has to tag along with us or anything. Somethin' threw us together and they just ended up with us. That's all." Hige said.

"The same goes for you." Kiba said with a light laugh.

"I don't know, that Tsume guy's been givin' me a real dangerous vibe from the start." Hige said.

"He's just different from us, that's all. When he was with the humans, he was their leader so he could always blame them for what happened.... that's pretty lucky if you ask me. Give him a break and he'll come around." I said.

"Weren't you the one who wanted to fight him before?" Hige asked.

"That was only because he was acting like he knew my entire life. I tend to get like that with people if they piss me off. I didn't really mean it." I said.

"Okay, what's up with you two? What happened to you before all of this?" Hige asked. I looked up at Kiba, but he continued to stare at the sky.

"Nothin' much. Nothin' much at all..." Kiba answered him. There was a silence among the three of us. After a while, I got up and dusted myself off. I helped Kiba up and streched. All of us looked ahead when you heard a faint scream in the distance. Hige sniffed the air.

"Hey, do you guys smell that?" Hige asked. I went wide-eyed after a gust of wind blew by and I caught the scent; Lunar flowers. I could already see them in my mind. I eyed Kiba as he started walking towards the scent and then stopped. He looked down at the sign that he stepped on and knelt down next to it. Hige and I went next to him to see what was up. The sign was red and had a skull and crossbones on it.

"Hmm... maybe there used to be a military base around here." Hige said. Kiba got up and walked in the opposite direction of the smell, where Toboe and Tsume had run off before. Hige and I stayed next to the sign.

"Hey, Kiba! Wait!" Hige called after him.

I sighed. "He does that a lot."

"And you just follow him?" Hige asked.

"It's kinda weird, but whenever he gets a feeling about things, he's almost always right." I said.

"I don't really think-" Before Hige could finish his sentence I ran off to follow Kiba.

"Rei!" He called after me.

I turned my head back and yelled at Hige "Just trust him on this, Hige!"

"What a drag... whatever...." Hige said with a sigh.

**.!.!.!.TOBOE'S P.O.V.!.!.!.**

I woke up before Tsume after we fell down from the bridge. I was lucky that I were alive.

"Tsume!" I yelled. I ran up to Tsume and pulled him to a place that was less open just in case that machine was still looking for us. I licked his leg to try and stop the bleeding. After a while, he woke up, but I didn't notice until he shooed me away.

"Stop that! Don't ever touch me!" He yelled. I looked down feeling guilty.

"What's it doing?" Tsume asked.

"It's not after us. It looks like we gave it the slip." I answered. Tsume layed back and I looked at all the scars on him, particularly the one on his chest.

"Woah, you're covered in scars. That one, there on your chest... Man, it's really cool!" I said. Tsume turned away from me and I hung my head.

"I wonder what happen to Kiba, Hige and Rei. I bet they're pretty worried about us by now." I said.

"I don't trust anyone." Tsume said.

"Huh?" I answered, confused with Tsume's answer. It had nothing to do with what I said.

"And because of that, no one has to trust me. That way, it keeps things nice and simple..." Tsume continued.

_"Is that how he really thinks life should be like...?" _I thought.

" I don't care. I still like you anyway, Tsume." I said. Tsume didn't reply. I hoped that my words had affected him in some way. Both of us shot up when we heard noises. We knew it had to be the machine.

"Ah, damn!" Tsume said. He tried to get up, but you didn't let him.

"Forget about it, Tsume! You'll get yourself killed!" I said.

"Well, at least then you'll have something to eat!" He answered.

"Don't be stupid! I'll act as a decoy and distract it so you can get away!" I said. I bolted up and started to run out of the cave but stopped as I heard Tsume speak.

**.!.!.!.TSUME'S P.O.V.!.!.!.**

"Don't do it!" I yelled after Toboe.

"You can trust me, it's okay!" He said back. Toboe ran out into the open and the machine shot at him, but when I emerged from the cave, the machine "looked" at me. It followed me, shooting as I ran. The machine had gotten me right up against a wall of ice and was about to blast my brains out. Some decoy that runt was....

_"I guess this is the end... I won't get to see if that Paradise place really exists or not..."_

Toboe howled as loud as he could, hoping that someone would hear him and help. Out of nowhere, Rei came out and bit the machine. It threw her off, but she landed softly on her feet. She stood there for a second and then ran off, leading it away from me. I sat there in shock until I heard Hige call me. I stood up and saw him standing on a ledge of ice. I got up and jumped next to him.

"Why'd you guys come here? " I asked.

"Kiba had a hunch you'd be in trouble." Hige answered.

"Whatever..."

**.!.!.!.YOUR P.O.V.!.!.!.**

I continued to run away from Tsume towards where Kiba was waiting. I zig zagged as I ran, avoiding the bullets that were shot at me. One grazed my side, but I continued to run. When I saw Kiba up on a ledge I ran up to him and grabbed an large icicle in my jaws. The machine shot a missle at the ledge, hitting the walls around it. Kiba and I emerged out of the smoke from the blast with icicles in our mouths. As we jumped at the machine, a bullet tore into Kiba's flesh as it whizzed by him. He ignored the wound and stabbed the icicle in his mouth into one of the barrels of the guns as I did with the other barrel. We both jumped away before the guns exploded and the machine fell to a lower level. I waited on a ledge for Kiba as he eyed the machine. It was still alive even after it fell and got up. The neck of the machine opened up, reavealing a hidden gun. The barrel started to spin and it fired at the ledge Kiba was on. He hopped off of it to the base of the bowl-like crater where the machine was in. I looked to my right and saw that an avalanche was coming.

"Kiba!" I called to get his attention.

Kiba looked at me and then saw that the avalanche was coming. I quickly jumped to a safe height with Kiba and barely made it before the avalanche came in, burying the machine in snow. After a couple minutes, it emerged from the snow, its glowing red eye looking at me. Kiba jumped in front of me and growled, ready to pounce at the machine. But before it could do anything, the glow in its eyes faded and the machine shut down. I walked next to Kiba and bent down, wrapping my right arm around his waist and slinging his left on my shoulders. I slowly got up and helped him walk to where we were supposed to meet the others. Half way there, Kiba asked me to let him walk on his own since his wounds as well as mine had stopped bleeding. I let go of him because I knew it would hurt his pride if the others saw him being carried by me after saving them. When we reached them, I saw Hige and Toboe standing together, while Tsume sat down with his back to them.

"Hey, you guys okay?" Hige asked.

"I'm fine..." I said as I gave Kiba "the look".

"It's only a scratch." Kiba said.

"Yeah right. Ever since I met you guys, nothin' but trouble..." Hige said.

"I knew it. Well, I wasn't sure but, I had a feeling that you guys would come for us." Toboe said with a small smile.

"Well, don't get too used to it, kid!" Hige said.

"I didn't ask for help. Why would you do that? Risk your life for me and don't try telling me... that it's because we're friends." Tsume asked.

"That's easy. It was just instinct." Kiba answered.

"That's what a pack does. No matter how much they like or dislike the one that calls for it, they help." I added. Tsume didn't answer. He got up and stumbled a little. Toboe rushed to his side and helped him stand up. Tsume stared back at the two of us and then began walking. I followed Kiba as he began to walk and was shortly followed by Hige.


End file.
